Session 1: Introduction to ACE – Being Present & Defusion
1.2 Guiding Principles(Ground Rules)
Learning Objectives:
- To establish a set of collectively agreed-upon principles and rules to guide individual behaviour within the group
- To promote group safety, which is essential for meaningful participation
- To set parameters for individual behaviour between training sessions; and
- To promote group interactions that value everyone’s input
Materials: Flipchart paper, Markers, Masking Tape
Time Required: 20 Minutes
Activities & Instructions
Instructions to Participants
- Facilitator #1 says, “The next activity we are going to do is to collectively come up with a list of ground rules and guiding principles that we as a group will follow. How many of us here have heard of the term “ground rules”?”
(Facilitator #1 acknowledges participants’ familiarity and unfamiliarity with the term “ground rules.”) - Facilitator #1 says, “In simple terms, ground rules are rules that we all agree upon and will be used to guide how we interact with each other throughout the training and how we relate to each other between training sessions. Based on your previous group experience, I will invite you to share ground rules that you feel are important and useful to support us to function as a group.
(Facilitator #2 writes down participants’ suggestions of ground rules on flipchart paper. Facilitator #1 clarifies with participants what they mean if they name one or two words as a ground rule. For example, if a participant says: “confidentiality,” Facilitator #1 will follow up asking the participant to say more about what she/he/they meant by confidentiality.)
(Facilitator #1 reviews the list of ground rules suggested by participants at the end of the activity. A number of ground rules are essential for group interaction, see list just below. If any of the items on this list have not been mentioned, Facilitator #1 will bring these up and establish them as ground rules.)
(Facilitator #2 posts the list of agreed-upon ground rules on the wall of the training room.) - Facilitator #2 says, “I am posting these ground rules on the wall here so that we can refer to them throughout all the training sessions. We will review these ground rules together at the beginning of each training session. During the training, if you think of another ground rule that would support positive interaction among all of us as a group, we invite you to share it and we will add it to the list.”
Notes to Facilitators
items to be included in the list of ground rules
- Confidentiality
Facilitator says, “Everything personal that is shared in this room will remain in this room, that is, each one of us agree not to reveal any personal sharing to anyone outside of this group.”
(Help the group distinguish between confidential personal information – names, detailed experiences, etc.) and generic teaching points that can be shared, e.g. the CHAMPs-In-Action model, the effects of stigma, etc.).]
[Raise the issue of interactions outside the group, e.g., greeting each other outside the group while maintaining confidentiality about how they met.)
Facilitator says, “In the next part, when we go through the informed consent and the pre-training survey, there is a section on the consent form that specifies our commitment to confidentiality as well, so we will be asking you to sign that as part of the agreement.” - Mutual Respect:
Facilitator says, “Each one of us agrees to respect the others as fellow human beings, and respect each other’s opinions and ideas, even when we may not agree with each other. This also means sharing time and giving each person the opportunity to share their ideas and opinions.” - Use the “I” statement:
Facilitator says, “This means each one of us agrees to take accountability for what we say and share, to speak from our own experiences and not on behalf of others. An example of an “I” statement is: ‘I feel that most Asian children have lost their connections to their parents’ culture’.” - Punctuality:
Facilitator says, “Since our goal is to learn together as a group within a limited amount of time, what are your thoughts on punctuality?”
[After participants defi ne punctuality, Facilitator #2 summarizes on flipchart – “Punctuality: arriving on time, return from lunch and breaks on time.”] - Take-Home Activities:
Facilitator says, “An important component of our training is homework or take-home activities between the training sessions. This includes some additional self-refl ection and integrating some of the skills and practices we learn into your daily activities. May we invite everyone to make a commitment to doing these take-home activities?” - Absence:
Facilitator says, “The CHAMPs-In-Action training involves a lot of structured experiential group learning activities on interconnected topics. We ask that you try your best to attend all the sessions in order to get the maximum benefi t from the training. If you have to miss 2.5 or more hours of the training, we would request that you withdraw from the group and rejoin the program next time it is offered.
Key Summary Points
- Ground rules or guiding principles refl ect our shared values and these value-guided rules will support our collaborative learning together.
Source:
Committee for Accessible AIDS Treatment. (2012). ETSN Training: Learning and Helping Out Level 1. Toronto, ON: Community Alliance for Accessible Treatment.
